Baseball in spring means little in the majors, but in college April and early May mean everything.
A case in point is the scenario that the Princeton baseball team finds itself in. Nearing the end of the regular season, the Tigers (24-19 overall, 7-5 Ivy League) are in an intense division race that mirrors the autumn MLB matchups between division rivals.
Judging by the way they've been playing lately, the Tigers are in great shape for the stretch run.
After taking four straight from Columbia last weekend, Princeton played non-conference games against Monmouth on Tuesday and Seton Hall on Wednesday. Although the Tigers lost to the Pirates, they still feel confident going into this weekend's four games against Penn (8-24, 3-13), as Princeton has won seven of its last 10.
The Quakers have struggled all season, accumulating only three conference victories. They have dropped 12 of their last 14, and in their last conference games, they dropped three of four to Cornell.
Much of the problem for the Quakers has been pitching. In two games against Brown earlier this year, they gave up a combined 29 runs. Most recently, they gave up 12 runs to Temple on Wednesday and 10 to St. Joseph's on Tuesday. On the year, Penn has been outscored 264 to 164.
The Quaker rotation varies from week to week, as eight different players have started a game. None of the top three starters has an earned run average below 4.91. This could be trouble for Penn, as the Princeton offense usually exposes low-quality pitching. In this week's game against a weak Monmouth (17-19-1) rotation, the Tigers, after getting off to a slow start, belted five home runs in the last four innings and put up 12 runs on 17 hits to win 12-5.
Junior center fielder B.J Szymanski led the charge with two dingers and three RBIs. The potential first-round pick in this spring's MLB draft is leading the team in batting average, hitting at a .386 clip and is tied with senior catcher Tim Lahey in the home run department with five. In Wednesday's game against Seton Hall (10-24-1), the Pirates were able to get up early on Princeton, and then scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth inning to secure the 11-5 victory. For the Tigers, junior designated hitter Will Venable and sophomore center fielder Andrew Salini each had two hits while Lahey, sophomore second baseman Aaron Prince and sophomore shortstop Matthew Becker added one RBI a piece.
Although already having played two games this week, the Princeton pitching staff will be ready to go. Junior pitcher Matt Sullivan and senior Brian Biegan, neither of whom are usual starters, got the nod in the non-conference games against Monmouth and Seton Hall. That gave the regular pitching staff the week off, allowing them to be ready to go this weekend.
Senior Ross Ohlendorf will get the ball in the first game Saturday. He is 4-2 with a 3.16 ERA. The Penn offense, though, is capable of putting up runs. Junior outfielder Nate Moffie leads the Quakers with a .358 average and eight home runs on the season. Besides him, three other players are hitting above .300.
Winning the Penn series will go a long way in securing Princeton's spot at the top of its division. After the Quakers, the Tigers will move on to play a four-game set against Cornell next weekend. Two will be played in Ithaca, while the remaining two will be played at Clarke Field. Princeton was the only team left standing after last year, as it won the Ivy League title. Although the Tigers are a much different team this year, they are still confident about their chances, even after struggling in the early part of the conference schedule.
"We had some trouble focusing early on in the season," Ohlendorf said. "We've overcome that now and we're playing the way we should be, so we should be okay."
If they win their division, the Tigers would move on the Ivy League Championship Series to face the winner of the other division.
"Our division is definitely weaker than the other," Ohlendorf continued. "As of now, if we win, it looks like we'll likely face either Harvard or Dartmouth for the championship."
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